Vs. Shadow Shroomish
Vs. Shadow Shroomish is the twelfth episode of the first season of Pokémon Tales: Orre. It aired 9/1/2018. Story The engine of the hover motorcycle roars as Crystal rides it across the desert, Brendan and Max getting their own side car. They pull up into Pyrite Town, parking right outside the entrance. They all have new tech devices behind their left ear. Cail stands there, watching as they get off and enter the city. Cail: Hello! Welcome to Pyrite Town! Crystal: Hey Cail! Has Ian made it in, yet? Cail: (Slyly) I’m not at liberty to give such sensitive information. If you want me to talk, you have to beat me in a battle. Max: (Groans) Are you serious? Cail: That’s the price of doing business with me. Now, do you accept or not? Crystal steps forward, eager and determined. Crystal: I’ll take you on. It’ll be nice to have another battle that doesn’t have such high stakes. Cail: That’s the spirit! I like a skank like you! Always ready to rough it up! Crystal looks severely offended, yet keeps her anger in check. Cail opens his Pokéball, choosing Houndoom. Houndoom: Hou! Crystal: Buizel. Crystal opens her Pokéball, choosing Buizel. Buizel: Bui. Crystal: Let’s crush them, shall we? Aqua Jet! Cail: Thunder Fang! Buizel is encased in water, shooting forward with Aqua Jet. Houndoom runs forward, jaw surrounded by Thunder Fangs. Crystal: Switch to Scald! Then finish it with Aqua Jet! Buizel breaks Aqua Jet as he spews Scalding water, hitting Houndoom and causing it to electrocute himself. Buizel then rams Houndoom with Aqua Jet, defeating him. Cail: Doh! Lost again! You could’ve let me have a little fun. Crystal: That’s what happens when you refer to me with such a derogative term. Cail: Heh. Fair enough. Ian had gone to see Duking, though he didn’t privy me with where he’s going afterwards. He also tasked me with watching the bike here when you arrive. Brendan: That doesn’t sound right. Cail: (Shrugs shoulders) Believe what you want. Crystal returns Buizel, as she, Brendan and Max head further in town. Brendan’s Pokéball opens, choosing Emolga. Emolga: Emo! Emolga clings to Brendan’s face, him freaking out and stumbling. Emolga then pushes off his face, flying off down the way. Ian is talking with Duking and a teenage girl with brown hair, with Emolga landing on Duking’s chest and crawling all over him. Duking pets Emolga as he shakes Ian’s hand, as Duking cuddles Emolga for a moment. Duking: You being good for Brendan there? Emolga: (Cheerfully) Emo emo! Emolga flies back to Brendan as they approach, landing on his shoulder. Brendan glares at Emolga. Brendan: I’m watching you. Duking heads back inside as Ian walks off. The group runs to follow him. Brendan: So, what did Duking tell you? He was cryptic on the message over the phone. Ian: That Silva went to inspect the Under, but never came back. Crystal: The Under? Ian: A long time back, Pyrite Town was apparently a rich mining town. Instead of the miners commuting between the mines and the town here, they built their own city underground to live in while on their shifts. When the mine closed, the miners stayed there. Max: That explains why this town is so run down. It probably suffered a recession after the money from the mines dried up. Crystal: (Concerned) Ian, you used to live in this town? Ian: Yeah, why? Crystal: It just, this seems like a much worse place to live on the streets. Brendan: Compared to what? The group enters the Pyrite Building, as they look around. Crystal: (Changing the subject) So, what are we looking for? Ian: Some sort of lift. Preferably one going, (spots something) down. Ian walks over to the corner, seeing the archaic elevator lift down. They all get in it, seeing it requires a key to start. Ian shrugs his left shoulder, with Magnemite floating off and towards the keyhole. Magnemite: Magnemite. Magnemite releases a weak stream of electricity from Thunder Wave, jump starting the lift even without the key. The lift jerks as everyone struggles to keep their balance, as it begins to descend into the darkness. End Scene The lift stops at the bottom, the group exiting into The Under. It has artificial lighting spread all over the area, as well as TV monitors set up in strategic areas. Only a handful of buildings are visible, with residents walking around the residential area. To the right is a large chasm, with a large colosseum building over there. The TV besides the lift is on, showing the news report. Reporter: And now, it’s Under Time! Here’s your host, Venus! The camera shifts to Venus, a woman wearing a large pink dress with a pink veil extending up from it and covering the bottom half of her face. A large crescent moon ornament is attached to the back of the dress. Crystal looks visibly appalled. Crystal: Yeck! What kind of person would wear a dress like that? Venus: (Light and airy) Hello all my sweet patrons! I’m Venus, and this is Under Time! A quick look at today’s highlights! Cipher has finished repairing the UFO transport across the chasm, so entry to the center and colosseum is back in business! Max: Cipher?! Brendan: So what? They run the area? Ian: It’s safe to say we’re in enemy territory. Venus: Pink is the color that’s in this week, so all you pretty ladies, don those pink dresses! Sponsored by Venus Embrace! Crystal: (Disgusted) It’s like she worships herself. Venus: And finally, be wary. Reports of citizens from Pyrite Town have come in. Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity! The group tenses up, looking at each other. Max: You think they know we’re here? Ian: They’re most likely referring to Silva. We need to find him. Brendan: Well, it’d probably be better to split up. Cover more ground and keep attention away from us. Ian: Good plan, Brendan. Max: Wait, he had a good plan? Ian: Max, you go with me. Brendan and Crystal, keep your heads low. Crystal: Wait, I’m not going with you? Ian and Max head off in one direction, as Crystal and Brendan look at each other awkwardly. Brendan: What’s up? Ian and Max maneuver through the main town, the few citizens eying them as they go. Max looks nervous, yet Ian looks unfazed. Ian: Stop looking with your head. You’re making it look like you’re suspicious and worth noticing. Max: How do you do it? Stay so calm in tense situations. Ian: Experience. You’ve got to live this kind of life to be good at the art. I don’t expect you to be a pro at this. But for right now, keep an eye out. Max: For what? Ian: Something worth noticing. Ian tilts his head, nodding to something. Max turns to look, seeing a kid watching them from an alleyway, who slips back and disappears afterwards. Ian and Max follow after the kid, having lost sight of him. Magnemite floats up, responding to something. They make it out of the alley, seeing a house with a large satellite dish in front of it. Magnemite is attracted to the signal coming from the dish, the kid they were following running inside the house. Ian and Max walk up the stairs to the house. Max: How do we handle this? Go in ready to battle? Sneak in the back? Ian walks up to the door, knocking. Max looks shocked, as Ian shrugs his shoulders. Voice: Who goes there?! Ian: My name’s Ian! And my friend here is Max! A boy around Max’s age cracks the door open, wearing a green headband around his brown hair in a ponytail. He has a white shirt with large green zigzag patterns on it, jeans and red converse shoes. Bitt: Cipher punks don’t use names. But you got gear like Cipher punks. Ian raises his arm, showing off the Snag Machine. Ian: Stole it off Cipher. Sounds like you don’t like them either. Max: We’re here to stop Cipher! We’re looking for a friend that was looking into them here. Bitt closes the door, undoing the locks. He opens the door all the way, eyeing them as he lets them in. The house is barren and small, not much in there. Max: This is where you live? Bitt lifts a trap door, revealing a stairwell down further underground. Bitt: No, this is. Welcome to Kids Grid secret base. Bitt leads them down the stairs to the base, when they hear a crash occur. They rush down into the base, which is filled with high tech computers and monitors. There are three kids backed away from a Shroomish, which is hostile towards them. Max’s ear device activates, extending a scanner out in front of Max’s left eye. He gasps as he sees the dark aura around Shroomish. Max: A Shadow Pokémon?! Ian: Handle it. Max nods, as he runs forward. One of the trapped kids, a girl with brown hair in a long braid wearing a blue dress tries to go forward and stop him. She is grabbed by a boy wearing a red sweater with brown hair styled back. Megg: No! Stay away from Shroomish! Shroomish forms a sphere of dark aura in front of it, firing it at the group. Max draws a Pokéball. Max: Ralts, block it with Safeguard! Max opens the Pokéball, Ralts coming out. Ralts: (Angry) Ralts. Ralts holds its arms out, forming a silver barrier around the group that blocks Shadow Wave. Max: Shadow Mist! Ralts releases a Shadow Mist, enticing Shroomish and lulling it down. Shroomish releases its own Shadow Mist, doing the same to Ralts. Ralts forms a Shadow Wave, firing it which is parried by Shroomish’s Shadow Wave. Max: Ugh. This isn’t working. Ralts, come back! Max returns Ralts, as he draws a new Pokéball. Max: Poochyena! Max throws the Pokéball, choosing Poochyena. It growls angrily at Shroomish. Max: Shadow Panic! Poochyena howls, which releases a shadow aura pulse. Shroomish’s eyes gloss over as it’s confused. Max: Excellent job, Poochyena! Now Shadow Blitz! Poochyena Howls to the sky, glowing blue as its attack rises. Poochyena dashes forward with Shadow Blitz, ramming Shroomish and knocking it into a computer base. Shroomish stumbles around, repeatedly hitting its head on the base. Max loads a Snag Ball into the Snag Machine. Max: Go! Snag Ball! Max throws the Snag Ball, sucking Shroomish in through an energy hand. The Pokéball ricochets back to Max as it shakes violently, it locking as he catches it. Max sighs with relief. Max: There we go. Megg: Thief! Give it back! Megg slaps Max in the back of the head, him falling flat on his face. Max rolls onto his back, Megg crouching down and taking the Pokéball. The two meet eyes, Max blushing. Poochyena snarls at Megg, as Max waves it off. Max: Uh, I, uh Nett: (Red sweater guy) Megg, it’s alright. They’re on our side. Megg: Huh? They are. Nett: (Looks at Ian) You’re Ian, right? Marcia sent me a message about you. Ian: Marcia? Duking’s daughter? The third kid that was with them steps forward. He wears a red beanie, a blue tank top with dark blue stripes with a yellow long sleeve shirt underneath it, and purple pants. Perr: Yeah, she told us all about how you guys kicked Miror B. out of Pyrite. You have the full support of Kids Grid! Max: What is Kids Grid? Nett: We’re a faction of an anti-Cipher group, dedicated to stopping them anyway we can. I’ve been hacking into their systems to try and figure out where their base is. Some of them decided to teach us a lesson and they stole Megg’s Shroomish. Megg: They give it to one of our neighbors which returned it to us. But when I let it out, it was like this! Evil and didn’t recognize me! Max: They turned it into a Shadow Pokémon. They are— Bitt: Pokémon with their hearts artificially closed. We’ve got that much. Ian: You get anything about their base? Perr: We didn’t get that far. But all those Shadow Pokémon in Pyrite came from here, and they had been transporting them here somehow. Max: You said this was a mine? Perhaps there’s an old tunnel they are using, bringing them in from elsewhere. Ian: Most likely a train if it’s to be fast and effective. That shouldn’t be hard to find. But for now, we have another situation. Our friend came down here and hasn’t come back yet. Any idea where he could be? Nett: Hm. They have a fenced off area towards the southwest corner of the city that serves as a makeshift jail. If Cipher found him, then he may be there. Ian: As good as place as any to start. Let’s exchange info. We may be able to help you get into their systems if we find their base. Nett: Sounds great. Ian and Nett go to the computer, as Max goes over to Megg, looking flustered and embarrassed. He returns Poochyena. Max: Hey, I’m sorry I had to catch your Shroomish like that. Megg: (Nervous) Oh, it’s fine. I mean, it was attacking and you technically saved us. So I guess it’s okay. Max: If you want, I can hold onto Shroomish for a bit and work on purifying it. Megg: Purify it? Max: That’s where we reverse the process that they did to the Pokémon. Bitt: (Startled) You can reverse this? Ian: Yeah. We’ve already done it once. It’ll take time though. Megg: (Elated) You can save Shroomish?! Oh, thank you thank you thank you! Megg hugs Max and begins jumping for joy. Max’s face turning bright red as he has an elated smile. She breaks away as he composes himself. Nett: There we go. You find their base, put this flash drive into their computers. I’ll be able to get into their systems and expose them for the menace that they are. Ian: Thanks. Max, let’s go. Max: Uh, right. Megg: Be careful, Max. Most people here support Cipher, and they are some of the strongest trainers in the region. Max: (Overconfident) Ha! Well, they haven’t met us then! Ian is one of the strongest trainers ever, and I’m the son of one of the strongest gym leaders! They don’t stand a chance! Main Events * The group travels to the Under. * Ian and Max meet Kids Grid, which are working on hacking into Cipher's database. * Max snags Megg's Shadow Shroomish. She lets him keep it in order to purify it. * It's revealed that Ralts has relearned Safeguard. Characters * Max * Crystal * Ian * Brendan * Kids Grid ** Nett ** Megg ** Bitt ** Perr ** Marcia * Duking * Cail * Venus Pokémon * Buizel (Crystal's) * Magnemite (Ian's) * Emolga (Brendan's) * Houndoom (Cail's) Shadow Pokémon * Shroomish (Megg's, snagged by Max) * Ralts (Max's) * Poochyena (Max's) Trivia * This episode dives into the history of Pyrite Town, being a former mining community. ** The city's decline following the drying up of the coal mines is similar to many coal mining towns in America, which were left poor and unable to recover from the change away from mining. * The Shadow Shroomish is based off the one that appears in Pokémon XD. Since Megg had a Shroomish in the games, it was made into a Shadow Pokémon to incorporate the Kids Grid into the series. * Kids Grid serves in a similar manner to Pokémon Colosseum, providing technical support. In this case, Nett gives them a flash drive that can hack into Cipher's computer systems. * This is the second time that Max has obtained a crush on a girl. The first was with Vivi in Vs. Camerupt. ** This gives him a bit of similarity to Brendan, who was a major flirt in his earlier episodes. Category:Episodes Category:Pokémon Tales Category:Pokémon Tales: Orre Category:Pokémon Tales: Cipher arc